One of the world’s most iconic animated pairs released their live-action revamp on Feb. 26: Tom and Jerry is now streaming in select theaters and on HBO Max. As a young kid, I always loved watching this furry, but not-so- friendly, duo on television to see what ridiculous shenanigans they would be fighting over each episode. It was such an entertaining experience, so I was very excited to see a live-action adaptation of the cartoons. This time, however, the plot was driven by humans, which forced the two to do the unthinkable: work together as a team.

The opening scenes of the movie did a fair job of introducing the setting and the main characters. Before encountering each other, Tom and Jerry are both struggling to get by: Tom, played by himself, makes a living playing music on his keyboard, and Jerry, also played by himself, cannot seem to find a place he can afford to live. After Jerry encounters Tom performing for a small crowd in Central Park, he takes advantage of this opportunity by making up a dance routine and generating a good amount of money for his impromptu performance. This angers Tom when he finds out it that the surprise act at his feet will be getting all the money instead of him. He then snatches Jerry away, and thus commences the classic cat and mouse chase that all Tom and Jerry viewers have grown to love. This part of the movie was spot-on with what I remember as a kid: exciting, hilarious mayhem, and this time with better animation quality.

While chasing Jerry, Tom runs into Kayla, the protagonist who is played by Chloë Grace Moretz, and he knocks her off her bike. Viewers later watch Kayla lose yet another job as an event planner; however, she miraculously finds herself working for the most luxurious hotel in New York City just a few scenes later. How? She cleverly steals a resumé from another woman inquiring for a job there, but this unrighteous deed will come back to haunt her later on. Kayla now has a big responsibility: she must organize the wedding of mainstream media’s beloved couple, Ben and Preeta, played by Colin Jost and Pallavi Shardi, while trying to catch a certain mouse and get it out of the hotel as quickly as possible. Jerry, however, made himself quite comfortable in the hotel, garnering the items he could find to create his own room. One of these items just so happened to be Preeta’s wedding ring, and when Jerry laid his eyes on that rock, there was no stopping him. That was, of course, exactly what Kayla had to do, and she got a little help from an old friend of Jerry’s.

Watching Kayla and Tom try so hard to get a hold of Jerry by building elaborate traps, and just reasoning with him, was very funny. Tom eventually managed to catch Jerry and ship him out of the hotel, but when it seemed like everything was in the clear for him and Kayla, that was far from the truth. It is only when Tom is trying to impress Preeta’s cat by playing a tune for her on the hotel’s piano that Jerry returns, right on cue, to blow everything out of proportion once again. This leads to one of the biggest disasters in the entire movie: Tom, Jerry, and Butch, the vicious bulldog who belongs to Ben in this movie adaptation, get into a huge fight in the hotel lobby, making a huge mess and probably causing thousands of dollars’ worth of property damage. Meanwhile, the wedding planning does not seem to be going any better; Ben wants to have a huge, over the top display of a ceremony to impress Preeta and her father, while Preeta cannot find the right words to tell her fiancé that she would rather have things be simpler. All movie-goers know that lack of communication between a couple is a recipe for disaster, but that end result is saved for a little later on.

Eventually, Kayla returns the wedding ring back to its rightful owner and comes up with a compromise for Tom and Jerry: she sends the two of them out into the city for a day to make up and become friendly, and in return, they will both be allowed to stay at the hotel. It was so refreshing, and adorable, to see the two having a grand old time in the city as pals. However, unbeknownst to them all, Terrance, the ambitious staffer whom Kayla works with, is secretly planning to get rid of Kayla so he can gain his rightful position that Kayla took from him back at the hotel. Played by Michael Peña, he manages to turn Tom and Jerry, who were just starting to get on good terms, against each other right before the wedding. As one can probably guess, his diabolical scheme succeeds, and the entire Indian-style wedding, including the animated elephants, peacocks, and a tiger, goes horribly awry. Worse, Preeta decides that she has had enough, and the wedding is called off. Terrance reveals Kayla’s true identity to the hotel manager, and she ends up losing her job. She, along with Tom and Jerry, are forced to return to the cruel streets of NYC once again.

This part of the film was the darkest hour for all three of the protagonists, who are wondering what they could possibly do now. Luckily, a master plan begins to be set in place, as Tom and Jerry finally work together to save Ben and Preeta’s wedding. I must honestly say that this part of the movie was my favorite. Watching Tom and Jerry zip through city traffic on an electric skateboard to snatch up Preeta’s cat and lead her right to Central Park for a do-over of her wedding, which Kayla managed to pull together with the rest of the hotel staff, was really awesome. In Central Park, Ben and Preeta come back together to tie the knot, and Kayla unexpectedly reconnects with the woman whose resumé she claimed to be her own. Not to worry, though; Kayla keeps her job, and Tom and Jerry are now best buddies, aside from the occasional cat and mouse chase that brings the film to a close with the classic “The End” curtain backdrop.

FINAL GRADE:

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

4 out 5 Stars